£ljc iarmcr's iHontljto Visitor. 



Age of Cattle and Sheep. 



It is generally supposed that the age of cattle 

 and sheep can lie accurately determined by tlie 

 teeth, till they are alter five years old. These 

 animals, as nearly every farmer knows, have, at 

 their birth or shortly afterwards, eight incisor or 

 front teeth in the lower jaw, called milk teeth, 

 which at various periods fall out and are replaced 

 by others called permanent teeth. The common 

 theory in relation to this change is that the two 

 centre teeth are dropped soon after the animal is 

 a year old, and are followed by two permanent 

 teeth which reach their lull size about the time 

 the animal is two years old ; that two other milk 

 teeth, one on eacli side of the two permanent 

 teeth which first appear, are dropped each suc- 

 ceeding year, and are followed by permanent 

 ones, till all the milk teeth are gone, and the an- 

 imal becomes " full mouthed," as it is called, at 

 five years old. 



Observation long since convinced us that this 

 rule does not afford a sure criterion of the age of 

 these animals. We have known several instan- 

 ces where cattle and sheep were, from their teeth, 

 supposed to be from one to two years older than 

 they really were. The circumstance has fre- 

 quently led to difficulty, especially in awarding 

 premiums, the idea being entertained that there 

 was some mistake or intended deception in re- 

 gard to the age. 



A few years ago, an individual in the State of 

 Ohio purchased, of a highly respectable breeder 

 in New York, a fine three-year-old Durham bull. 

 On his arrival in Ohio, lit was exhibited at a cattle 

 show where he was examined by many persons, 

 several of whom, in looking at his teeth, declar- 

 ed him to be. five years old. It was in vain that 

 a certificate, in the hand-writing of the breeder, 

 was shown, stating him to he but three years old 

 — it would not satisfy the critics, who insisted 

 that there either had been collusion in regard to 

 the hull's age, or the purchaser bad "got Yan- 

 keed." Yet the testimony of the breeder, we pre- 

 sume, would have been regarded as sufficient in 

 a court of law to establish the fact of the animal 

 being but three years old : and there was nothing, 

 except the appearance of the teeth, to indicate 

 that he was older. 



Cases of the same kind might be cited in re- 

 gard to sheep; and several farmers and breeders 

 have assured us that good or bad feeding will 

 frequently caKse a variation of a year in the ap- 

 pearance of their teeth. 



A French veterinary journal has lately brought 

 out some valuable facts in relation to this sub- 

 ject. It appears that on the loth of April, 1846, 

 an agent of the government purchased a two- 

 year-old Durham bull, at the dairy of the Royal 

 Stud, at Pin. Shortly after the purchase, the 

 bull was exhibited for a premium, hut the judges 

 refused to award him the prize, it having been 

 specified that the animal should be but two years 

 old, and they believing this one to be four years 

 old and upwards, as he had all his permanent 

 teeth. The decision, as may well be supposed, 

 created some stir, and to settle the point in dis- 

 pute, letters were addressed respectively to the 

 directors of the Royal Dairy at I'in and Pousse- 

 ry, containing the following questions: 



"1. Are there, in the dairy over which you 

 preside, cows or bulls which have cut the whole 

 of their permanent teeth prior to their fifth year, 

 and how many ? 



"2. Are there any which have cut all prior to 

 their fourth year ? 



"3. Are there any which have cut their teeth 

 earlier ? 



"4. At what medium age, according to your 

 personal observation, do Durham oxen, hulls es- 

 pecially, >bed the whole of their milk-teeth?" 



The aoHwers to these questions, by each of the 

 directors, showed that in each of the royal dai- 

 ries there were ten animals, viz: at Pin, one bull 

 anil nine cows, and at Poussery, two bulls and 

 eiL'ht cows, which had cut the whole of their 

 permanent teeth prior to their fifth year; that in 

 the latter case all the animals had their perma- 

 nent teeth prior to their fourth year; and that in 

 the royal dairy at Pin there were seven animals 

 — one hull and six cows — in tin; same case; 

 that at Pin there were four cows and at Pousse- 

 ry one bull which bad cut all their permanent 

 teeth before they were three years old. A case 

 ol'a cow at Poussery is mentioned, which, at two 

 years and seven months old, bad six permanent 



teeth, and two months after, that is, at two years 

 and nine months, had put out her corner teeth, 

 making the full number of permanent ones. The 

 date of the birth of most of these animals is 

 given, copied from the registers kept at the es- 

 tablishments, so that there is hardly a possibility 

 that there could he any mistake. The directors 

 further state that the cattle of the Durham breed, 

 kept at the dairies under their charge, usually 

 shed the whole of their milk-teeth between their 

 third and fourth years. 



The variation in the time at which cattle and 

 sheep shed their first teeth, is attributable to two 

 causes — the natural constitution of the animal, 

 and the manner in which it has been fed and 

 reared. Some animals, from these causes, reach 

 maturity much sooner than others, and their den- 

 tal organs, sharing equally in the precocity of the 

 system, exhibit the condition which belongs to 

 those of older animals, w Inch are longer in ar- 

 riving at their full growth. 



We respectfully commend the above remarks 

 to the attention of breeders of animals, confident 

 that observation will fully confirm the correct- 

 ness of the conclusions put forth. — Mb. Cult. 



To Cook Bacon, Ham, and Tongues. 



First, well wash, and scrape clean. If very 

 salt, it may soak in cold water a few hours; al- 

 low plenty of water, fresh rain or river water is 

 best: put it in when the chill is off, and let it be 

 a good while coining to the boil, and keep it very 

 gently simmering. If time allows, throw away 

 nearly or quite all the liquor of bacon as soon as 

 it boils up, mid renew it with fresh cold water: 

 reckon the time from the second lioiling. A 

 pound of streaky bacon will require three-quar- 

 ters of an hour to boil: a quarter of an hour for 

 every additional pound. If good bacon it will 

 swell in boiling, and when done the rind will pull 

 off easily. Take it up on a common dish to re- 

 move the rind, and sprinkle it over with bread 

 raspings, sifted through a flour dredge, or grater. 

 A ham of twelve or fourteen pounds will require 

 four of five hours simmering, or four hours bak- 

 ing in a moderate oven. When done remove 

 the skin as whole as possible, and preserve it to 

 cover over the bam and keep it moist. If to be 

 served hot, strew raspings as above; hut if in- 

 tended for eating cold, omit the raspings. It will 

 be much the more juicy for not cutting hot. Set 

 it on a baking stand, or some other contrivance, 

 to keep it from touching the dish ; this preserves 

 it from swamping in the fat that drips from it, 

 keeps the fat nice and white for use, and also 

 makes the ham keen the longer from becoming 

 mouldy, by the outside being perfectly dry. — 

 Whether hot or cold, garnish with parsley. A 

 neat's tongue, according to its size, age, and 

 freshness, will require from two hours and a hall 

 to four hours slow boiling. When done, it will 

 stick tender, and the skin will peel off easily. — 



Sanderson. 



« ■ 



Shrinking of Pork. — Our esteemed corres- 

 pondent " II.," n| Fail port, asks for information 

 in the December number in regard to the causes 

 which make pork shrink when cooked. This is 

 a curious and interesting subject of inquiry. If 

 there is any material difterence in the shrinkage 

 in the weight of the flesh of swine, equally fat, 

 when boiled a given lime, the cause must be 

 sought in the greater quantity of soluble gelatin 

 (glue) in the tissues of one animal than in an- 

 other. It is very possible that, if one was to 

 evaporate the water in which corresponding pie- 

 ces of pork from different hogs equal in weight 

 had been boiled, the liquid in which shrunken 

 meat had been rooked, would give the larger 

 quantity of jelly. It is not water that the meat 

 loses in boiling ; but soluble organized matter. 

 Hence, salt meat, whether pork, beef, or mutton, 

 should have its excess of salt, il any, soaked out 

 in pure cold water, that all the dissolved jelly or 

 flesh may be eaten as well as chicken, veal, or 

 beef soup. 



The science of dietetics is very little under- 

 stood, as we took occasion to point out a few 

 mouths since. It is a curious fact, that we neither 

 know how to raise and improve pigs, nor how to 

 fatten, cure, and cook their flesh, nor bow to eat 

 it in the way to impart to our systems the largest 

 amount of nourishment. After a great deal of 

 study, the wisest just make out to learn that they 

 know next to nothing. Experience teaches us 



that a pig led on mast, or still slops, will make 

 more oily pork — meal more melting in boiling 

 waler — than one laid lied on sound corn. This 

 is generally understood. But the causes which 

 change the quality and solubility ol lean meat, as 

 well as fat, are not so apparent. We must search 

 into the legumin in peas, and ibe muscle and tis- 

 sue forming elements in the vegetables.pot-liquor, 

 butter-milk, and other food of swine, lor a solu- 

 tion of the problem. 



In a hen's egg we see all the constituents of a 

 perfect bird in a semi-liquid state ; while hot wa- 

 ter solidifies the whole contents of the shell. 

 Albumen in meat and flour, as well as in the 

 white of eggs, coagulates in hot water. But even 

 this will come out of meat, as it separates from 

 its solution in old brine on scalding it. Some say 

 that such brine should not be scalded ; lor the 

 reason that, after its capacity for dissolving albu- 

 men and jelly exhausted, it is better to apply to 

 fresh meat, (after it is also saturated with salt,) 

 than new brine. It is possible that the character 

 of the brine may have a decided influence on the 

 shrinkage of pork and beef in boiling them. If 

 all I he nutritive mailer which is dissolved out of 

 meat in brine, and boiled out in dinner pots and 

 wasted,. were saven, il would be worth several 

 millions a year to the people of the United States. 

 It is only honest to own the truth and admit that, 

 old as civilized society is, we, the men and wo- 

 men of forty and upward, have yet to lean: our 

 ABC in domestic economy. In the first place, 

 we waste ahout half of our labor by its misappli- 

 cation in unwise tillage, and then waste nearly 

 half of what we pretend to save, by some ''slip 

 between the cup and lip." 



From the best investigation of the causes which 

 make meat shrink in boiling, we long since came 

 to the conclusion, (whether wise, or other-ttn'se,) 

 that it is better to bake and roast than to l»'il u, 

 unless for soups, slews, anil ihe like. Much 

 might be said on the degree of cooking which 

 flesh ought to receive, in order to render it most 

 easy of digestion. "The upper ten thousand" 

 run into the extreme of rawness ; while the mil- 

 lion often Kink meal so much that no human sys- 

 tein can form living flesh out of it. The daily 

 loss from the latter cause is immense — incalcu- 

 lable. — New Genesee Fur mi r. 



A Henological Fact. — The importance of 

 the use of lime to some animals, is very pleas- 

 antly illustrated in the following manner, by a 

 correspondent in the Boston Medical Journal, 

 A. C. Castle, M. D., of New York : 



The most amusing illustration, says he, of the 

 want of lime, and the effects of its presence, 

 came under my notice on my voyage from South 

 America to "sunny France." We had omitted 

 to procure gravel for our poultry, and in a lew 

 davs after we were at sea the poultry began to 

 droop, and wound up their afflictions with the 

 '• pip," or as the sailors term it, the "scurvy." — 

 Their feathers fell from their bodies, and il was 

 perfectly ludicrous to see the numerous wt- 

 leaihery tribe in the most profound misery, 

 moping away their lime in an utter slate of nu- 

 ditv. Amusing myself one day, by fishing up 

 "iiulph weed," which floated ill immense "fields" 

 upon the surface of the ocean, I shook from it 

 numerous small crabs, about the size of a pea. 

 The poultry, with one accord, aroused them- 

 selves from their torpor, and seemingly, as if by 

 instinct aware of the therapeutic qualities of 

 these interesting animals, they partook of them 

 wiih greater avidity than any invalid ever swal- 

 lowed the " waters" of the ''springs." After a 

 few hours the excellence of the remedy was ap- 

 parent ; ihe "roosters" began lo crow, the hens 

 to strut and look saucy, and in a few days all 

 appeared in quite a holiday suit of feathers, de- 

 rived from the lime, the constituent part of the 

 crab shells. 



Western Commerce.— In the commerce of 

 the Mississippi valley there are 1,200 steamboats ; 

 the annual expense of running iliem, 32 millions 

 dollars; persons employed on them, 40,000.— 

 The annual commerce of the Mississippi valley 

 is estimated at 430 millions of dollars. How im- 

 portant is ;he dissemination of agricultural knowl- 

 edge, that ihe business, for which all ibis gnat 

 machinery is but the servant, may be conducted 

 to as much profit and advantage as possible. 



